Graham (novels)
Graham is a character who first appeared in the King's Quest games, and also appears in the tie-in novels from the mid-90s. While largely intended to be a continuation and extension to the King's Quest universe of the games according to the advertising, there is a number of ways in which the series deviates from the lore from the games or the The King's Quest Companion history for the character (see BB universe). This article focuses more on the context presented in the novels only (some of this material is still included in the main 'Graham' article, but instead in the context of the series as a whole, and the original games). Background Graham was not born a noble (or royality), he had not been born to the velvet of a king's station. He had been born a nobody.KQKOS, pg 12:...William knew his station and how to behave in a royal house. Graham himself, often had a difficult time, mostly because he had not been born to the velvet of a king's station. He had been born a nobody. Where it not for Valanice keeping watch over him, Graham would not have know the first thing about how a king should behave.KQKOS, 16: She had class without the stuffiness Graham had often seen in other members of the nobility.KQSNW, pg 5: She was, after all, a princess born and raised. Her father had not been born a king, and her mother was only royal on one side. It seemed only fair that Rosella should get more respect than her parents. He was a commoner or peasant, trained up to be a knight. Nor was he ever trained in the proper ways of courtly manner or etiquette. Graham traveled much in his youth, learning that the world was far wider than any single small kingdom.KOS, pg 9: William was still young enough to think that a large place. But Graham had traveled much in his youth and knew the world was far wider than a single kingdom. Daventry was but a small spot among many larger lands. Not long after coming to Daventry to be one of Edward's knights. Being a first generation immigrant, Graham did not stretch far back into the roots of the land.KQKOS, pg 11:"Unlike Graham, who had taken the throne of Daventry little more than a decade before, this boy had family that stretched back into the roots of this land. A wicked sorcerer had used his cunning to cheat King Edward of the magic mirror on that fateful day many years past, with dire consequences for the realm. Graham finally recovered the mirror from the sorcerer's dark lair, and returned it Castle Daventry, where it remained ever since on the wall next to the throne.KQTFC, pg 5: ...until that day, now many years past, when a wicked sorcerer had used his cunning to cheat old King Edward of it, with dire consequences for the realm. It had been Alexander's father who had finally recovered the mirror from the sorcerer's dark lair, and returned it Castle Daventry, where it remained ever since, there on the wall next to the throne. When Edward died, he passed the realm over to the young knight Graham. Not long into Graham's reign his own son, Alexander had been kidnapped while no more than an infant. Over the next decade, with the years that had passed since his son's disappearance, the pain of his loss did not come as often. Days went by in which Graham thought of Alexander not at all--which only compounded his loss with guilt. Sometimes something would stir his memories, bringing a sharp twinge of sadness through Graham. Personality and traits Graham had no authority beyond the limits of the fields, and no desire to rule more. The Old Woods lay at the boundary of his Kingdom. Graham has blue eyes, short blond or brown hairSNW, pg "Graham ran a hand through his short brown hair.", mixed with gray, and a short beard.KOS, pg He stared into the blue eyes that had been his until the switch.KOS, pg "He ran it brieﬂy through his short blond hair to make sure it all lay flat, then combed out his short beard."“ Graham ran his hand through his beard, con- sidering. Faeries were not evil creatures, but they were also not necessarily truthful, nor did they hold much goodwill toward humankind."He was amazed to ﬁnd that not only was his skull still in place, he even had hair—though he was certain that could he see it there would be a considerable amount of new gray among the blond."Ahi’aorina looked at the blond man and frowned.Ahi'aorina looked across the room to where the imps were having sport with the simple blond man.When he next looked down, the top of a blond head was almost directly below.He missed the blond head. In fact, he missed his body entirely and thumped on the ﬂoor at its feet. See also *Graham (comprehensive article that focuses on all the classic Original Canon and expanded universe material.) *Graham (Hoyle I) *Graham (Hoyle 3) *Graham (Hoyle 4) *Graham (KGBGC) *Graham (KQGS) (Graham in the Reboot Canon) *Graham (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5) Behind the scenes Graham as he appears in the novels lives in a version of Daventry that is sort of a combination of Daventry from the original AGI KQ1 (KQ2 and KQ3), as well as the Daventry from KQ1 SCI. As such there are moat monsters (as per KQ1 SCI) but castle is a mix of both versions of the game. This doesn't have much impact on Graham's character per se, it just changes certain aspects of his setting compared how it appears in the original King's Quest trilogy and the King's Quest Companion. In addition the kingdom is portrayed as a very small kingdom, compared to the 'great kingdom' as it appears in other sources. With his rule limited to 'the fields' between the Old Woods (with the exception of some towns or villages beyond the woods, and one near the sea), in the games he rules over even the woods of his kingdom. A number of times, both Rosella and Graham compare Graham as a nobody, and against 'nobility' to point out that he is a commoner, who was given the position of king. References Category:Characters (TFC) Category:Characters (KoS) Category:Characters (SNW) Category:Grahams